05 October 2007

Al Franken Outspends Norm Coleman In Senate Race

MR SPEND-IT-ALL

Campaign Ca$h Burns Hole In Stuart's Pocket

At the rate he's burning through campaign contributions, Al Franken's dot.com-esque Air America Radio tenure may appear downright thrifty by comparison. Why can't our friend Stuart hang on to a buck or two for any length of time?

WASHINGTON - Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken raised $1.89 million over the past three months, topping Republican incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, who reported $1.7 million in campaign fundraising over the same period, including an August fundraiser featuring President Bush.

The new numbers, posted Thursday on the Internet, still show Coleman with the overall money lead, posting nearly $5 million in cash on hand, compared with $2.45 million for Franken.

But Franken, a comedian chasing money as well as political credibility, appears to be closing the gap.

Franken outpaced Coleman's campaign in the second quarter of this year as well, raising $1.9 million to Coleman's $1.5 million. But Franken also appears to be spending money at a more rapid clip. His remaining cash is less than half the $5.18 million he has raised so far this year.

It's fairly unusual for Senate incumbents to be outfundraised by their challengers, particularly challengers with no previous electoral experience. But Coleman said Franken's national profile makes him anything but a conventional challenger. "He's a comedian who's got a lot of contacts around this country," Coleman said. "It's difficult to compete with the checkbooks of the Hollywood elite."

What explains the difference in spending? For one thing, Coleman and Franken have both taken the unusual steps of running full page ads in the Star-Tribune before the primary election has even occurred, so it's not clear how one campaign has been more careful. We'll take a look at the breakdowns once their full quarterly reports are available at the Federal Election Commission's website.

And while Coleman happily discloses his number of in- state donors, Franken refuses to break them down that way:

Both campaigns have tried to emphasize their grass-roots givers. The Coleman campaign touted 16,000 Minnesota donors since the beginning of the year; Franken boasted 64,743 donors.

"Minnesotans identify with Norm's optimism, and his positive vision for the state, so it's no surprise that they choose to support him financially," said Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan.

Franken's campaign did not release a breakdown of its Minnesota donors. Instead, his campaign focused on its ability to surpass Coleman's fundraising, despite the help Coleman got from Bush.

Even worse, spending his war chest much too early has done little for Stuart's popularity:

Republicans gloated that while Franken burned more than $1 million in the second quarter, a recent Minnesota Poll gave him only a 27 percent favorable rating, compared with 52 percent for Coleman, who faces his first reelection test next year.

Anybody see a pattern here? We do: low talk radio ratings, weak favorability numbers in Minnesota. Wild spending sprees inside Air America Radio, little fiscal control while running for office.

8 Comments:

Brian wrote:With the latest fundraising totals for Minnesota's US Senate race now released to the public, mainstream media outlets have focused on the fact that Franken took in more money than incumbent Norm Coleman (R-MN). Thanks, Hollywood!

The quarterly FEC reports are not yet available for online viewing, yet you are implying that Franken outraised Coleman, because of contributions from Hollywood. You have no factual basis on which to base this assertion.

You also fail to note that Coleman's quarterly fundraising was boosted by a $1000 a plate event with President Bush. How much would Franken have beaten Coleman by without this fundraiser?

You question how many instate contributors Franken has, making it seem like Franken is well behind Coleman in this category of contributor. Since the information has not been released, you are merely making a guess. You might be correct, but judging from your last guess on this topic, (quarter 2 fundraising)http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2007/07/al-franken-campaign-contributors.html#comments where Franken , who you called Mr. OUTTA STATE, had 14% more IN STATE contributors than did Coleman, I doubt it. Since Coleman raised less than Franken, despite the Bush fundraiser, it's hard to imagine that he had more individual donors from Minnesota, especially considering that he usually takes in much more of his money from PAC's.

I see that Benson is happy with the poll results that Brian reported. What poll is that? Oh nevermind I found it , its from a poll done by the Star Tribune. I guess Benson's glee will be short lived, because you never want to base your "opinions on the information from the completely biased Strib", right Benson??

For those that don't know, the above quote is a reply Benson made to one of my comments in the following thread: http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2007/07/al-franken-campaign-contributors.html#comments

So Benson, is this info believable becaused you are pleased with it, even though you previously called the source "completely biased"?

Another poll available from early September showed Franken trailing Coleman by 5% among likely voters.http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2008__1/state_toplines/minnesota_toplines_september_6_2007 This was much closer than the previous gap of 22% in a May poll.http://www.nationalledger.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=12&num=13351

Mason Dixon and Rasmussen are both reputable polling services, would you care to dispute the tightening of the race that these polls indicate? If not, I don't think you can fairly say that the money Franken has spent, has achieved "no results".

I did not realize the survey was done by the Strib. (sorry, should have read the fine print closer). EZSUDS did some research and pointed out my dislike of the rag. He is absolutely correct about the biased reporting done by the STRIB.

Fortunately, EZSUDS did some more digging and found other surveys that showed Franken continues to trail Coleman.

One thing people are missing is that it is no sure thing that Franken wins the Dems nomination to run against Coleman. Mike Ciresi is the ral threat to Coleman & money is not an issue. He's done very well as a lawyer, he hit it big beating big tobacco a fews years back. He can buy & sell Franken, as well as the rest of the field. I would be suprised if Franken got the nomination.

Also, he will get no free ride in the TwinCities media. The big boys will make him work for support, & the biggest boy won't give him the time of day. That, & the word is spreading that he's not exactly pleasent to deal with either.

We already had our celebrity fill with Gov. Jesse"The Body"Ventura, I highly doubt that we will have Sen.Stuart Smalley.

Rick asked a legitimate question: What does this race have to do with Radio?

The connection is with Franken's continuing mentions to Air America Radio.

If dannybhoy's comment about Mike Ciresi winning the democrat nomination comes true, then we can put the final wooden dagger into Franken's failing career aspirations and let him fade away to obscurity.